6 Tips Nobody Told You About Sales!

6 Tips Nobody Told You About Sales!

A how-to guide to getting la crème de la crème of sales.

Let me tell you a thing or two about sales. In my last post I discussed the importance of waiting for sales to get a good deal. This however is a completely different phenomenon. This is the story of mass sales. I've noticed this happen to me quite often. I walk into a huge sale (like the end of season Zara sale) and it gets real bad, real fast.

Let’s put it this way: I go wild.

I am truly the exact target demographic falling face first into marketing traps. Between the madness, the messiness and the pure excitement, I end up buying two types of things:

1. Very good quality pieces (leather jackets, classic coats, little black dresses, etc): these are usually the pieces that I treasure and wear constantly, a.k.a “la crème de la crème”.

2. The sale garbage: these are the items which seem like a good idea in the store, but when seen in my own mirror and lighting, it just seem like a “WTF!?” purchase.

There is one scene in particular of Gilmore Girls that perfectly describes my feelings for these “WTF” purchases. Lorelai, (the main character) brings a Weston’s coffee cup (another diner in their town) into Luke’s Diner (her once-again boyfriend). Their dialogue goes like this:

LORELAI: This is a mocha chocolate swirl-a-chino with extra whip cream.

LUKE: That sounds disgusting.

LORELAI: It is. And if it was physically possible to make love to a hot beverage, this would be the one.

LUKE: So apparently I've got competition.

LORELAI: No, no, no. It's just a fling. I'll finally spend the night with it, but then when I see it in the morning with the caramel un-swirled and the whip cream un-whipped, huh! Buh-bye.

In the store, the mocha chocolate swirl-a-chino is absolutely delicious. But, the next morning when you wake up and the “caramel is un-swirled” and the “whip cream is un-whipped”, two words: buh-bye.

So, I have come up with a few tips and tricks to avoid the WTF purchases:

1.If you wouldn't have bought this item 2 years ago, don't buy it now. Truly classic pieces never seem dated. The exception to this rule would be if your personal style has drastically changed recently.

2.If you wouldn't pay full price for it, don't buy it on sale. Now obviously the point is always to get it on sale. But think for a second, if money weren’t an issue, say you were Ivanka Trump, would you pay full price for this item? If the answer is no, then the marketing execs have done their job, and the big 50% off sign is working. Congrats.

3.If it's a size too small, and you say that you'll “juice cleanse” to fit into it, don't buy it. You won't juice cleanse. It will sit in your closet a year later with the tags still on (noted from personal experience).

4.If you’re with a friend (not a best friend) and she said it looks amazing. She is lying. Unless you are with your mother or the person who has held your hair back whilst you were throwing up, always assume the person is lying (or doesn't want to hurt your feelings).

5.If you are calculating how much you need to not eat this month to afford this piece, than definitely don't buy it. It's not worth it.

6.Think of 3 other pieces that you already have that you can pair this with. Let me say that again for a greater impact: that you already have. If you can't think of any, it means you'll probably wear this item once, Insta it, and then it will collect dust with the rest of the Insta one-timers. May they RIP.

These 2 + Old Navy = all my $$$

Now if you have managed to get this far in the test and still want to buy it, then go ahead. You have officially exerted enough energy to justify your purchase. You deserve it, so enjoy your “crème de la crème”!

Last word of wisdom, do not memorize your credit card number. This will lead to over-excited online shopping that you may regret (again, talking from personal experience).

If you’re wondering how this outfit is related to this post, here is your answer: before I bought each of these items, I followed the 3’s rule. All of these items can be dressed up or down. When I wore this outfit in real life (as opposed to the fake Internet life? Lol), I wore it with black tights and leather boots. When I shot this outfit outside, I was honestly concerned of dying of hypothermia (it was cold to say the least). My respect for bloggers had infinitely improved in that moment. In all the pictures we see where they are “laughing” while wearing a sleeveless dress in the snow, I give them mad respect (it is so much harder than it looks, believe me).

So I strongly suggest pairing this with tights, a winter jacket, perhaps some gloves, a scarf and possibly a hat… (just saying)

I hope this was helpful and that you can now walk into those “end of winter” sales with your game faces on. If you have any other tips and tricks regarding shopping/sales (or getting the “crème de la crème” of sales), please leave a comment below!! I would love to hear them, and my bank account would really appreciate it!